Presently, a cutting edge operational workplace does not always keep track with advancements in technology in every field. For example, it is not uncommon to find a shop that rents or sells the latest device managing its business using methods such as pen and paper or computing systems that are three-to-five generations behind present computing technology. One of the main adages for relying on an antiquated management system is “if it ain't broke don't fix it.”
However, as modern technology advances, many establishments are realizing the advantages of certain products and are phasing them into the antiquated systems. For example, a rental company may rent an asset with an initial rental contract typed up on an early generation personal computer in a DOS program. Moreover, when the rental is returned, the same rental company may check the vehicle back into the system using a pencil and paper check-in method. That is, there may be a lot walker that walks around the returned asset and visually inspects the asset for maintenance issues, any damage, engine hours, total miles, etc.
Each of these metrics may be used by the lot walker to establish whether the asset needs any maintenance, or other attention, before being returned to the rental fleet. The resulting response is then written on a piece of paper, and affixed to the returned asset. In some cases, the asset may need more than one type of attention resulting in an asset with a plurality of papers affixed to the asset. The asset will then be re-assigned accordingly and may return to the rental lot at some later date. Moreover, as the asset is taken through the different return-to-rental status process(es), the piece(s) of paper may need to be updated, added to, or otherwise manipulated.
At the same time, the rental asset may also be affixed with a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. For example, to reduce the cost of insurance, aid in theft recovery, or the like, the rental company may have affixed the GNSS, or the asset may have arrived with the GNSS affixed. In some cases, the GNSS may be used by the user operating the asset to find directions from one location to another, or the GNSS may be used to find the position of the asset. For example, the GNSS may be used by law enforcement to recover a stolen piece of asset; the GNSS may be used by emergency personnel to find the location of the asset to provide aid or assistance; or the like.
Although the management methods described herein have used rental companies as an example, the problems associated with asset management are not limited to rental companies. An operational company may have the same asset management protocols and problems. For example, the company may have an asset that is checked out to the field by the means of an operator grabbing the asset and going. In the same way, the asset may be returned to the lot and the operator simply returns the keys to the storage location. Thus, after the asset has left, the only way of knowing what the asset is doing for the day, if it is at the right location, or even if it is used for the right job includes contacting the operator during the workday or asking the operator at the end of the day.
As margins in the asset operating business, such as construction, and the like, are reduced, it is becoming more important to properly manage the assets. For this reason, most asset operating businesses require their employees to have a phone on their person. That way, when the asset is in the field, the operator can be contacted and advised about where to operate the asset and what job should be performed.
However, this method of command and control is deleteriously unreliable. For example, the operator may not know their location, or may be wrong about their location. Additionally, the operator may misstate the job being performed, or spend more time on break than actually operating the asset. Each of these errors and omissions will further affect the already tight margins faced by the asset operating business.
Further, many assets (e.g., including vehicles and other construction equipment machines as described herein) have fluids which are vital to their continued and proper operation. These fluids are often analyzed to determine, among other things, whether they retain the properties required for proper asset operation and to determine wear characteristics of the asset based upon the chemical/metallurgical content of the analyzed fluid. For example, fluid analysis is often performed during routine preventative maintenance to provide information on lubricant and machine condition. By tracking analysis results over the life of a machine, trends can be established and/or monitored in ways which can help eliminate or predict the need for repairs.
Typically, after taking a fluid sample from an asset, a technician will need to mail, or otherwise physically deliver that fluid sample to a remote lab. Lab-on-a-chip (“LOC”) devices do exist which can expedite this process by integrating one or more of several laboratory functions on a single chip. A microfluidic analyzer can be an example of an LOC. Microfluidic analyzers are common in the biotech field because they allow technicians to analyze bodily fluids without sending results to a remote lab. LOC devices and microfluidic analysis techniques can also be utilized by a trained on-location technician in order to analyze a sample of the fluid of an asset in-situ, without resorting to sending the asset fluid sample to a remote laboratory for analysis.
Frequently, end-users of assets are not skilled in fluid analysis or even in the protocols for sampling of fluids. Among other scenarios, this can be problematic, for example, if an asset is in use at a remote, difficult to access work site and/or when an asset is rented out or used for long periods of time in a situation where there is no one trained, capable, or even cognizant of performing the analyses and/or sampling of fluids.